• Do you need a source of fresh science-based motivation to stay in good shape and avoid being a couch potato in middle age?

• A 44-year study showed that women who are "super fit" at age 50 are at a much lower risk of dementia as they age than their less-fit counterparts. The paper, "Midnight Cardiovascular Fitness and Dementia, (an external link)" was published on March 14 in the online edition of Neurology, the American Academy of Neurology medical journal (an external link).


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Cardiovascular and Dementia Fitness

• Objective To investigate whether greater cardiovascular fitness in middle age is associated with a 44-year reduction in the risk of dementia among women followed up.

• Methods Population-based samples of 1,462 women aged 38 to 60 years were examined in 1968. Of these, a self-contained sample of 191 women completed a maximally increased ergometer cycling test to evaluate cardiovascular fitness. Further dementia investigations were performed in 1974, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2005, and 2009. Dementia was diagnosed according to DSM-III-R criteria based on information from neuropsychiatric examinations, interviews with informants, hospital records, and registry data. until 2012. Cox assertion is made with adjustments for socioeconomic, lifestyle, and medical confounding.

• Results Compared with fitness, the adjusted hazard ratio for all causes of dementia during follow-up of 44 years was 0.12 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.03-0.54) among those who had high fitness and 1.41 (95% CI 0.72- 2.79) among those with low fitness. The age of delayed fitness is high at the onset of dementia at 9.5 years and the time for 5-year dementia incidence is compared with medium fitness.


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• Conclusions Among Swedish women, high cardiovascular fitness in middle age is associated with a subsequent decrease in the risk of dementia. Promotion of high cardiovascular fitness can be included in strategies to reduce or prevent dementia. The findings are not causal, and further research needs to be focused on whether better fitness can have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and when during life, high cardiovascular fitness is essential.

In particular, middle-aged women who were "perfectly fit" in the study were 88 percent less likely to have dementia than women who were just "fit" in the same middle-aged period.

• Additionally, if a woman who was highly fit in midlife did develop dementia in older age, she wasn’t likely to develop the disease until age 90. However, women who were moderately fit during middle age and subsequently developed dementia, did so 11 years earlier, at the age of 79.

Over the 44 years of this study, five percent of the highly fit women developed dementia, compared to 32 percent of women with low fitness and 25 percent of moderately fit women.

• "This indicates that negative cardiovascular processes may be happening in midlife that could increase the risk of dementia much later in life," first author Helena Hörder (link is external) of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden said in a statement. "These findings are exciting because it's possible that improving people's cardiovascular fitness in middle age could delay or even prevent them from developing dementia."

• The researchers sum up the main takeaway of this study in their conclusion: "Among Swedish women, a high cardiovascular fitness in midlife was associated with a decreased risk of subsequent dementia. Promotion of a high cardiovascular fitness may be included in strategies to mitigate or prevent dementia."<

• When drawing conclusions based on this study, it is important to remember that correlation does not automatically imply causation. As the authors explain in the abstract study, "The findings are not causal, and further research needs to be focused on whether better fitness can have a positive effect on the risk of dementia and when during life, high cardiovascular fitness is essential."

• The limitations of the study include the number of women involved in small numbers, all of whom are from Sweden, so the results may not be appropriate for other populations," Hörder said. "Also, women's fitness levels are only measured once, so any change in fitness from time to time is not caught.There needs to be further research to see if better fitness can have a positive effect on the risk of dementia as well as to see when the lifetime fitness level The high is the most important.

How Study Participants Monitored During this 44-year Research?

• In 1968, at the start of this study, the Swedish research team recruited a population sample of 1,462 women aged between 38 and 60 years. Six dementia checks based on DSM-III-R criteria, neuropsychiatric exams, informant interviews, hospital records, and other data were performed in 1974, 1980, 1992, 2000, 2005, and 2009.

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• Of the larger population-based study, a group of 191 women with an average age of 50 performed an ergometric exercise test to measure how much wattage of energy they could generate on a stationary bike before it reached physical fatigue. The maximum wattage output of each participant before "conking out" represents his peak cardiovascular capacity.

When averaged, 103 watts is the peak of the bell curve for participants aged 50 years. Of the 191 women who took the bicycle fitness

test, 31 percent went to the "low fitness" category marked with a maximum output of 80 watts or less. Approximately 48 percent (98 women) fall into the category of "fit enough" and can paddle at a maximum output of 80 to 120 watts. The "very fit" cohort consists of 40 women (about 21 percent) who are maxed out at a peak of 120 watts or higher.

For anyone who is a cycling fan: Using a "tap meter (external connecting") device to measure your wattage output on a road bike is a great way to gauge how hard you work with each blow pedal. The energy wattage you spend during aerobic exercise with respect to your max VO2 (related to the external) (cardiovascular fitness indicator) and heart rate target (external linkage) is an easy way to develop personalized cardio exercise that will be optimized. Your cardiovascular fitness


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Recent research by Hörder et al. add to the pile of empirical evidence linking higher levels of cardiorespiratory fitness throughout human life with various neuroprotective benefits such as better cognitive function and lower dementia risk in old age.

If you're middle-aged, hopefully, the latest findings about the "right fit" shortage of dementia in middle age will inspire you to perform moderate-to-strong physical activity (MVPA) on a more regular basis.

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